Melody Flynn and the OWCA
by VibeQuake
Summary: Melody Flynn is the daughter of Ohio Flynn and Isabella. Born with immortality and magical powers thanks to the mysterious Temple of Juatchadoon, Melody spends her time travelling through time and space, meeting as many of her descendants as she can. One day, she happens to land in the yard of the Organisation Without a Cool Acronym, where she meets her favourite descendant yet...
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Izzy, did you hear that another expedition to the ruins of the Temple of Juatchadoon came back empty handed?" called Ohio Flynn from the dining room table.

His wife Isabella was serving their dinner in the kitchen. "Yeah I did. I read Candace's article about it. I'm glad they all came back alive, though. Some of the others haven't."

Ohio sighed, turning the page of the newspaper. "I wish I could get back out there, sometimes," he said. "I know it's dangerous, but I miss the old days. You know, just me and Rhode Island Fletcher, out searching for adventure and riches."

Isabella smirked as she lay the plate of food in front of her husband. "I know which old days you mean. Have you had much contact with him recently?"

"Not since Mel was born," Ohio replied, taking his feet down off the table so that he could begin eating. "Speaking of which, wasn't she supposed to come back for dinner?"

"Yes, yes she was. She's probably lost track of time yet again."

"Well, if YOU were able to travel through time and space, wouldn't YOU lose track of time too?" Ohio pointed out.

Isabella shrugged. "I guess I would. I bet she'll be home soon, though."

As if on cue, the door suddenly burst open, and the couple's twelve-year-old daughter came hurtling through, clutching her little brown satchel. She was flushed and giggling. "Mom, I found the cure for F.D.S.I.!"

"F.D.S.I.?" Isabella repeated, taking the satchel from her daughter and hanging it on the door handle. "What is that?"

"And which year did you go to this time?" Ohio asked casually.

"I went to 2067," replied Melody excitedly, hopping up onto her chair. "There was an outbreak of F.D.S.I. and I found the cure!"

"You didn't meddle too much, did you, Mel?" Ohio lowered his newspaper and looked his daughter in the eye. "Remember, you're outside of time now. Anything you do may affect the future in bad ways."

"I didn't meddle, don't worry, Dad." Melody beamed. "I just helped the scientists find the cure. They were already looking for it."

Isabella smiled as she placed her daughter's plate down in front of her. "Did you learn a lot?"

"I learnt what F.D.S.I. is," replied Melody. "F.D.S.I. stands for Fever, Dizziness, Seizures, and Internal pain. It's the illness's four symptoms. Did you know that it can actually kill you if you leave it too long?"

Ohio and Isabella exchanged a glance. "No, honey, we didn't," Isabella said slowly. "You didn't catch it, did you?"

"Oh, yes!"

Her parents' heads snapped sharply up, their eyes widening. "What?!" Isabella gasped.

Melody seemed oblivious to her parents' reactions. "I had to see for myself what it was like. Besides, I was working in the hospital alongside the doctors treating the patients and apparently F.D.S.I. is REALLY contagious, so I didn't really stand a chance!" She sounded extremely excited for someone who had caught a rather painful and potentially deadly disease. Luckily, she caught sight of her mother's expression and hurriedly added, "But it's okay, Mom. It's only deadly if left untreated for too long. As soon as I got it, the doctors began treating me. I was really safe, I promise."

Her parents exchanged another glance. Ohio seemed to be more worried than Isabella, who grinned and said, "Does that really sound more dangerous than most of the stuff you and Rhode Island used to get up to?"

Ohio raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's true…" He looked back at his daughter and sighed. "But please don't do that again, Mel, okay?"

"Okay, Dad."

What Melody was sensible enough to not tell her parents was that F.D.S.I. had been an EXCRUCIATING experience. The internal pain had been almost unbearable, but the worst part was definitely the seizures.

But it was okay. It was a learning experience for Melody, and she now knew not to go near the disease again.

"Did you meet any of your descendants this time?" Isabella asked, halfway into the meal.

Melody regretfully shook her head. "I didn't have time. After I was finally cured of F.D.S.I., I had already been in 2067 for over two weeks, and I've told myself that the maximum period that I should stay in one period for is four weeks. But that's the absolute maximum. Besides, I missed you guys too much."

"Aww." Ohio grinned. "We missed you too, honey. Though to us, you were only gone for the day."

Melody smiled at her parents. "Dinner was amazing, Mom. Thanks!"

"It was just chicken," Isabella said amusedly.

"It's still delicious."

"I agree," Ohio said with his mouth full.

Giggling, Melody hopped off her stool, grabbed her satchel, and began rushing up the stairs, stopping halfway up when she remembered what she wanted to ask her parents. "Can I go out again tomorrow, Mom?"

Isabella paused for a moment. "Where?"

"I wanna go to 2008."

"Really? Why?" asked Isabella curiously.

Melody shrugged. "I wanted to go to a year between 2000 and 2010, so I just picked one at random. Besides, I worked out the math: one of my descendants will be the same age I am in that year, so I think I'll have a better chance of meeting him or her."

"That'll be exciting," Ohio commented. "What do you think, Izzy?"

"As long as you're careful, you can go," Isabella replied.

Melody cheered and continued running up the stairs. She rushed into her room and shut the door behind her.

Being able to time travel was very exciting. Melody had been afraid of the power at first, but now she saw it as an amazing opportunity. Melody had a thirst for knowledge, so being able to travel to any time period she wanted was the best gift she could have been given.

And meeting her descendants/ancestors was even better. She just hoped that she'd be able to find one of them during her next trip.

She had no idea what awaited her in 2008.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Melody was packed and ready to go by 9am. She was wearing her exploring outfit and her satchel was packed full of anything she could possibly need. She had used some of her magic to make it larger on the inside, so that it could hold literally anything. This made her ready for anything, which was essential for time travelling.

After kissing her mother and father goodbye, she was ready to go. Standing outside, she took a deep breath. Time travelling always made her a little nervous, since she didn't have complete control over where she would end up. But that also thrilled her; the unpredictability made life exciting. Besides, she more often than not ended up somewhere better than where she was originally intending to go.

However, this time she hoped she'd be able to go straight to 2008. Although…she knew it didn't really matter. Nothing TOO major happened in 2008.

After making sure she was ready, she drew a portal in the air and jumped into the timestream. It would be a fairly long journey; she was travelling almost a hundred years into the future.

There were a few time periods she was reluctant to go to. 2001, for starters. When she visited 2067, she had heard even then of the terrible 9/11 attack on Twin Towers in New York in 2001. She did want to go back and witness the event; she loved witnessing events that shaped human history. But at the same time, she wasn't sure if she would be able to witness such an appalling event.

Another was 1939-1945: The Second World War. She knew that there had already been one war before she was born, but she was horrified to learn that the world would not learn from its mistakes and launch itself into ANOTHER world war. What was worse was that it was going to begin in just three days' time.

But at the same time, there were time periods she was DYING to visit. At the very top of her bucket list was 1969: the year the first man walked on the moon. She simply could not WAIT to see the feat achieved. In fact, she was actually planned to spend some time training as an astronaut when she was old enough so that she HERSELF could walk on the moon. She was immortal, so she could spend as much time as she liked training and it wouldn't affect her life.

Two other periods that she desperately wanted to see were the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. Both were MAJOR time periods in the history of learning, and without either one of them, the world would not be as advanced as it was today. There was SO much that Melody knew she could learn from those periods. In fact, she was even planning to live in each one for a year each, so that she could properly learn as much as she could.

Living with the knowledge of the future was rough for Melody sometimes. She generally used it for positivity, like learning and knowledge, but sometimes the weight of all she had learned pressed down on her. Luckily, she had made sure to avoid running into any of her future selves. While she could live with knowing what happened generally in the future, she didn't want to know what happened to her personally in the future. She wanted to experience life as it came, rather than worrying about when she might die or who she might fall in love with.

Finally, she arrived in 2008. Or so she thought. When she landed (literally) in the time period, she immediately rushed off to find something with the date on it, to make sure she knew exactly what time period she was in.

She had landed in a park of some kind. Everything was green and full of colour. She could feel the energy of the Earth coursing through her as she ran across the grass, towards a newspaper stand. She tiptoed past the sleeping merchant and inspected the date. She frowned. That can't be right…

She'd missed her mark yet again. Instead of landing mid-July 2008, she seemed to be in late November 2009. Though she should have known something was up; it was far too chilly to be the middle of summer. Rubbing her bare arms, Melody headed off down the street. She wondered why the change had happened. Normally, there was a reason. But it was such a subtle difference, it probably didn't really matter that much.

It still didn't feel right, being in the future. While it was VERY exciting, it was also sometimes a little overwhelming. Melody was from 1936; most of the stuff she found in the future wouldn't be invented for several more decades. Things like cell phones, computers, colour television sets, large shopping malls. Since Melody was immortal, it was more than likely that she was going to live to see these things invented anyway, so she tried not to spend too much time looking at or interacting with them.

All of a sudden, there was a loud whooshing noise, and a large pirate ship went sailing over the square. Melody stared up at it in delight and awe. It looked like the kind of ship that Melody's parents used to sail back in 1936, except this one…this one was FLYING!

Melody just HAD to see where it was going.

She took off after it, keeping her eyes on the large wooden ship so that she wouldn't lose it. Even from the distance she was below it, she could see the intricate detailing on the hull and the stern, including what looked like a duck-like figurehead on the mast. She wondered who on Earth could have built such an amazing ship, and one that could FLY!

After a few minutes of not getting anywhere, Melody decided to take it up a notch. Envisioning a beautiful white dove she had seen once, she felt the dove's white wings sprout from her back. With that, she activated her generic invisibility powers and took to the skies.

Melody loved flying. She loved the wind in her hair, being able to look down on everything, and the fact that she was free to go literally wherever she wanted to go. Right now, she wanted to land on that pirate ship. So she flapped her wings, putting on a burst of speed, and managed to catch up to it.

However, before she could land on it, she heard a loud bang from below her. She sharply looked down and saw a large net shooting towards her. She tried to turn, but the net was too close. It enveloped her, restricting her wings.

Without the ability to flap her wings, she began to plummet towards the ground…


	3. Chapter 3

…until she managed to get one of her wings free and flapped it furiously, slowing her descent. When she was about ten feet off the ground, she made her wings disappear and let herself fall the rest of the way. She didn't hurt herself when she landed, but she was starting to get tangled up in the net, so she stopped moving and simply looked around her.

She was in what looked like a field. In front of her was a large building, maybe a block offices. On the roof, a weird-looking cannon was just retracting inside the building. Melody frowned. Was that what had launched the net? And if so, why? Melody hadn't been hurting anyone.

About five minutes passed before Melody saw anybody. And when she DID finally see somebody, she had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't see things.

It was a greeny-blue duck-like creature, like the figurehead of the ship. With a start, she realised what the animal was and where she had seen it before.

"You're a platypus!" she gasped aloud, pointing at him.

The platypus stopped dead, clearly not expecting this response. "Yeah…" He gave Melody an odd look. "Weren't you flying earlier?"

Melody paused. She felt a little unnerved by this platypus, but she simultaneously hated lying and loved explaining, so she said, "Yep!"

"How?"

"Let me out and I'll show you," Melody offered.

The platypus snorted. "And let you just run away? Nope."

"Oh…" The thought honestly hadn't occurred to Melody. She actually did want to show the platypus how she was able to fly. "But I can-."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on!" The platypus waved his paws, cutting Melody off. "How exactly are we talking right now?"

"What?"

"I can't speak English and I don't have a translator. How are you understanding me?"

Melody beamed. "Oh, I can speak every language in the world, including all the animal languages."

The platypus blinked several times. "How…?!"

"A magical temple granted me magical powers," explained Melody. "I was born with the ability to time travel, use different animals' attributes, and speak any language on Earth just by hearing someone speak it. Oh, and I can turn invisible. Watch!"

Before the platypus could protest, Melody concentrated and turned invisible. Laughing at the look on his face, she turned back visible. "I'm Melody. What's your name?"

The platypus took a few seconds to shake himself out of his apparent daydream. "Uh, Perry. Perry the Platypus."

"Nice to meet you, Perry! Do you live in Danville?"

"Y-Yeah. Do…Do you?"

"I guess so!" Melody beamed again. "I was born in Panama in the year 1924."

Once again, Perry could only stare at her. "You… Wait, what?"

"Time traveller," giggled Melody, pointing to herself. "I try and meet as many of my descendants as possible."

"Oh. I thought you were immortal for a minute there."

"That, too."

After a few seconds pause, Perry sighed and shook his head. "I can't deal with this right now. If I cut you out, will you stay here?"

"Of course! You're my friend now!"

Perry seemed unsure of what to make of this weird girl. Even without the immortality and powers, he had never met anyone this weird before. Not even his owners, and that was saying something. Sighing again, he got out his pocket knife and cut the net open so that Melody could stand up. She stretched her limbs as far as she could. Perry watched her.

"Are your parents back in…the year you came from?" he asked eventually.

"Mmhmm." Melody yawned and straightened her satchel. "They don't want to travel with me. Besides, they know I'll be okay. No matter how long I stay out here, I can return to the moment I left, if I want to."

Perry looked her up and down. "So how did you fly?"

"Oh, right!" Melody tapped the bracelets on her arms. "I was born with powers but I couldn't control them until Dad found these in the temple where my powers came from. This one-." She held up her left wrist. "-gives me moderate magical abilities, like invisibility and time travel. This one-." She put down her left wrist and held up her right one. "-helps me control my attributes power."

"Attributes power?"

"Yep. Whenever I see an animal and learn its name, my bracelet logs that information and allows me to gain its attributes at will. For example, when I was flying, I was using the attributes of a dove. Like this."

Melody closed her eyes and pictured the same dove as before. She didn't even need to look to know that the white wings had reappeared from her back, eliciting a gasp from Perry. She hovered in the air for a second before dropping back down, quivering with excitement. "How cool is that!"

Perry grinned. "That's pretty cool. Can you do a platypus?"

"OH MY GOSH YES!" Melody yelped. "Hold on!"

She closed her eyes and focused on Perry's image. A few seconds later, she felt her skin tighten all over her body, and she could feel that she now had an orange tail. She kicked off one of her shoes and showed Perry her newly webbed feet.

"What can platypuses do?" she asked.

Perry's beak was wide open but he managed to answer, "We're semi-aquatic so we can swim really fast."

"Awesome!" Melody beamed. "Race you later?"

Perry laughed. "Sure. But what are you doing here?"

Melody allowed the tail and her webbed feet to disappear. As she pulled on her shoe again, she replied, "I like travelling and learning. I actually meant to come to summer of 2008, but somehow I ended up here. What's that building over there?"

Perry hesitated, but eventually he said, "It's the headquarters for a secret organisation that I work for. It's made up entirely of animals who have host families to take care of them when they're not working."

Melody thought her mind was about to explode. Her eyes wide and shining, she whispered, "Secret…agent…pets…"

"Y-Yeah, I guess you could call it that."

"OH MY GOSH THAT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER PLEASE CAN I SEE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!" Melody shrieked.

Perry winced and stepped back. "Okay, okay! You'll have to get a visitor's badge, though. Otherwise, people might think you're trespassing."

Melody didn't appear to hear that last part. "How many species of animals do you have?"

"Many. We've got the normal pets like dogs, cats, rabbits, etc. Then there are platypuses like me, eagles, big cats, wild animals. All sorts."

NOW Melody's mind was blown. "Do you have cheetahs?!"

Perry grinned and nodded. "We have one."

Melody lunged forwards and grabbed Perry's shoulders. "You HAVE to introduce me! I've ALWAYS wanted to add a cheetah to my roster!"

"Why couldn't you do it before?" Perry asked.

"Just knowing its name isn't enough. I need to have seen it in person, not in a photo. Same with the other way round: if I see a cool animal but don't know what it's called, I can't take on its attributes. I don't know why."

"Oh, okay." Perry smiled. "Come on, then. Let's see if she's still there."

Melody squealed aloud as she trotted after the platypus. This day couldn't possibly get any better.

She had no idea that it could and it WOULD.


	4. Chapter 4

Melody was loving every minute of her time in O.W.C.A.'s headquarters. There were so many interesting animals to look at and study. It didn't matter that she'd seen most of them before; it was fascinating to see how they reacted to animals that they wouldn't normally see in the wild, like a parrot and a polar bear. She also gained the abilities of a whale, an elephant, and a chicken. Though she was unsure of what useful abilities a chicken could give her, at least she was one step closer to her goal of registering every animal on Earth.

After getting a visitor's pass from reception, the first place she was shown was the cafeteria. It happened to be breakfast time, so there were several agents scattered around the room, eating at tables.

"So with so many species of animals, how do you take all their dietary needs into account?" Melody asked.

"Each of the dishes are specially made by a team of cooks," relied Perry. "There are generally four different options: meat, fish, vegetarian, and vegan. Then there's also a bar over there-." He pointed to the thing he was talking about. "-which serves fruit and vegetables for animals who only eat them."

"You guys really thought of everything!" Melody breathed, impressed. "Hey, can I make notes?"

Perry blinked. "Who are you going to show them to?"

"Oh, nobody. I just like to make notes on all the time periods I go to. I have a really good memory, but sometimes new pieces of information inadvertently push out old ones, and I don't want to forget anything. Is that okay? I won't show anyone. It's purely for learning."

Perry actively encouraged learning, though he was still a little uncomfortable about a stranger even being in the HQ, let alone taking notes, but his impression of her so far was that she was a genuine little girl who just wanted to learn. So he said, "Okay."

Melody beamed. "Great, thanks!"

She dug into her satchel and pulled out a leather-bound notebook and a pencil. "Could you tell me about the meals situation again?"

So Perry did. And he found that he was actually beginning to enjoy talking to her. She asked a lot of questions, like where the food for the meals actually came from. Perry had no idea he even knew the answer to that, but it wasn't until Melody questioned him on it that he realised he did. Melody's questions were testing him on his knowledge of organisation he worked for, and it was enjoyable as well as enlightening.

Finally, Melody fell silent, scribbling away in her notebook. Perry watched her for a minute. After a minute, she closed the notebook and put it and the pencil back in her satchel. "Thanks, Perry! That was fun."

"That was only part one of the tour."

Melody's eyes widened. "What? There's MORE?"

Perry laughed. "A LOT more. There's the offices, the gym, the library, the infirmary. Lots to see."

Melody beamed. "AWESOME! Where to first?"

"Well, the infirmary is nearest to here, so I guess we should start there."

Melody trotted after Perry as the platypus led the way out of the cafeteria. "How many doctors do you have here?" she asked.

"Two doctors, two nurses, and a consultant," Perry replied. "It's a Saturday today, so I don't think many of them will be in today."

As they approached the door to the infirmary, a young woman came out, carrying a pile of sheets. Perry grinned and tipped his hat to her. "Elouise. I see they've got you doing nurse jobs."

Elouise shrugged. "It's okay. Neither Maya nor Leo is in today, so I thought I'd help out. My shift down at D.G.H. doesn't start until tonight."

Melody glanced quizzically at Perry. "D.G.H.?"

"Danville General Hospital," Perry explained. "By the way, this is Elouise. She's the consultant I mentioned earlier. Elouise, this is Melody Flynn."

Elouise and Melody smiled at each other. "Nice to meet you," Melody said.

"Likewise." Elouise shifted her glance from Melody's visitor's badge to Perry. "Is she a visitor?"

Perry nodded. "Yeah, she is. Is Apollo in?"

"Nobody is. I think Apollo and Cynthia are consulting in D.G.H. this morning."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Elouise. See you later."

Elouise shifted the sheets in her arms and resumed walking away from the infirmary. Melody watched her disappear round the corner, then she took out her notebook and scribbled something down in it. Perry craned his neck and managed to see _Elouise—consultant_ written in it.

"Do you want to know about the medical staff here?" he asked.

"Yes, please!"

"Okay, so… Well, you've met Elouise. She's a consultant. She works at Danville General Hospital, but she assists us on some of our harder cases."

Perry waited for her to write that down.

"Then there are the two nurses: Maya Rhodes and Leo Greywood. Leo's only an apprentice nurse but Maya is the best in the business. She has years of experience in nursing and also worked at D.G.H. for a few years.

"Next, there's Doctor Cynthia Ross. I honestly don't know much about her, only that she's a licensed surgeon and she's pretty new. She does have a child that she brings in sometimes when she can't get a babysitter. But I haven't really talked to her much."

Again, Perry waited for Melody to catch up with her writing.

"And finally, there's Apollo Hastings. He's O.W.C.A.'s best doctor and he's been here the longest. He began training here from the age of thirteen, so he's actually been part of O.W.C.A. even longer than me, and that's saying something. When I joined, he was only sixteen and I was only a year old. I was a scared little thing and he had trouble making friends, so we just bonded naturally. He's been my best friend ever since. I HAVE made other friends since then, like Pinky the Chihuahua, who you met earlier, and Peter the Panda. But Apollo will always be my best friend. He's also a really talented doctor and will never sugar-coat the truth. He's literally unable to refuse anybody medical care, no matter who they are or what they've done.

After a few minutes, Melody finally finished writing. She flexed her aching fingers on her right hand as she put her writing materials away with her left.

"Whoa," she breathed.

Perry blushed slightly. "Sorry. You probably didn't want to hear me gushing about my best friend like a teenage girl."

Melody laughed. "No, that was awesome. I love how tight-knit everyone is here. You're like a family."

Perry nodded slowly. "Yeah. I guess we are." He grinned. "Anyway, it's time to go to the gym."

Melody beamed. "I'm SO ready for this!"


	5. Chapter 5

On the way up to the gym, they stopped at the office floor. Melody's mouth fell open in wonder at the sight of all the office cubicles and all the dozens of different animals occupying them. Some were tapping on computers, others were chatting in the passageway, others were refilling plastic cups of water. It was just bustling with LIFE. That was what Melody loved most about this: all the life and energy that filled the room.

"I love this," she breathed.

Perry shot her an amused glance. "Is there anything you DON'T love?"

"As long as it's not inherently bad, then no." Melody paused. "Mind if I do a sketch?"

"No, not at all."

Perry stood back and waited patiently for her to draw. But after a minute or so, he edged closer and watched her pencil fly across the page, drawing the scene with remarkable accuracy. It wasn't professional level, but it was still ten times better than anything Perry could draw.

When she was done, Perry said, "Do you want to see my office?"

Melody stared at him. "You have an OFFICE? Or do you mean one of these little cubicle things?"

"Nope, I mean an office. I'm one of O.W.C.A.'s oldest agents, and the oldest agents get their own offices."

"OOH YES!" Melody squealed. "That's so cool! This is AWESOME! I can't believe how much I'm going to learn!"

"Lucky you bumped into me, isn't it?" Perry grinned.

"Either luck or there's somebody somewhere controlling our actions," Melody said. "Like we're just characters or toys in the higher scheme of things. Like a movie-maker or a writer or something."

There was a pause as Melody seemed to look into some invisible camera.

"Ready," she said eventually. "Let's go!"

Chuckling, Perry led the excited girl round to the row of real offices. Perry's was the corner office, affording views over two sides of the building. Melody inhaled in wonder as they stepped inside. Perry couldn't help laughing. She was looking around the room as if she had just stepped into the Taj Mahal or something, instead of just a small office.

"You've got everything!" Melody giggled. "A computer, your own water dispenser, that thing over there that I think is a printer, a metal basket of some kind, and even a spinney chair!"

She hopped into the office chair. Since Melody was only a little taller than Perry—and the office chairs were made bigger than they needed to be anyway—she was able to fit. She laughed as she swung the chair round and round.

Perry snorted. "Watch you don't go flying off."

Melody stopped the chair with her foot and blinked as sudden dizziness made her vision a little fuzzy. Through the haze, she could just about spot a photo frame on Perry's desk. She reached out and picked it up, inspecting the photo inside. Her face settled into a very rare frown.

"Melody?" Perry came nearer. "What's wrong?"

The boy in the photo. Melody recognised the face shape, the eyes, and even the hair immediately. There was no doubt who this was.

"Nothing." Melody quickly put the photo frame back on the desk and turned to the platypus. "The gym now?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, right this way."

When they finally reached the gym, it was deserted. "is everybody in the offices?" Melody asked.

Perry nodded. "That's generally what happens between meals. Generally, people only use it during mealtimes, before the work day, or after the work day."

"It's so BIG!" Melody gasped, stepping inside. "What's all this equipment?"

While Melody wrote and sketched, Perry introduced her to each piece of equipment, from the treadmills and cross-trainers to the trampoline and high horse. Melody was particularly interested in the trampoline. She took off her satchel and placed it on the ground, then put her writing materials down on top of it. Perry was about to ask what she was doing when she took a run-up and jumped straight onto the trampoline.

Perry tried and failed to prevent himself from dissolving into giggles as Melody bounced all over the trampoline. Instead of bouncing up and down in one place, as a normal agent would have, Melody kept flopping and tumbling from one end of the trampoline to the other and then back again. She really didn't know how to properly use it. But then again, the trampoline WAS originally created to be a source of fun. And Melody was DEFINITELY having fun.

As he watched her, an idea suddenly popped into Perry's head. It was a weird idea. A crazy idea. An idea his boss probably wouldn't agree with. But he knew Melody would probably explode (in a good way) if she heard his idea. It would benefit her greatly. That meant he had to try.

When Melody next paused, Perry called up to her, "Stay here for a while, okay? I need to talk to my boss really quickly."

Melody beamed. "Okay!"

Perry turned and quickly rushed out of the gym.

Melody carried on bouncing for a while, before she spotted a black porcupine coming into the gym. She gasped. She knew what a porcupine was, but she had never seen one before. Now she could gain the porcupine's skills!

She leapt off the trampoline and landed gracefully. Then she rushed over to the porcupine, who had just climbed onto the treadmill. "Hi!" she squealed.

The porcupine leapt a foot in the air and fell right off the treadmill. Brushing her quills out of her eyes, she got to her feet and regarded Melody coolly. Melody saw the porcupine's eyes dart to her visitor's pass. "Hello," she said warily. "Who are you?"

"My name's Melody. What's yours?"

"Nyx," the porcupine replied. "Are you with Perry?"

Melody nodded. "Yeah! He's been showing me around. Are you a friend of his?"

Nyx shrugged. "I guess so, but we're not super close. So how old are you?"

Melody beamed. "Twelve!"

"That explains a lot," Nyx murmured, climbing back onto the treadmill. "Look, I'm just here for five minutes, so can you let me run in peace, please?"

"Oh, okay!" Melody ran back to the trampoline and jumped back on.

After a few more minutes, Perry came sprinting back into the room, looking rather excited. "Melody! Oh hey, Nyx. Melody, come down here!"

Melody bounced as high as she could, then took on the attributes of a hawk and flew down to the ground, landing as gracefully as she had before. Perry glanced over at Nyx, but the porcupine hadn't appeared to have seen that.

"What is it?" Melody asked, Perry's excitement infecting her too.

"I just talked to my boss, and he gives permission for you to stay here for a month and train with us! If you pass a test at the end of the month, you'll become an honorary O.W.C.A. agent!"

Melody's brain exploded. "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?! OOOOH MY GOOOOOOOOOOSH!"

She began jumping up and down like a pogo stick, screeching in excitement. For some reason, Perry joined in. He couldn't help it; when Melody was excited—which was almost all the time—it was almost impossible not to be as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nyx shooting them a half-amused, half-annoyed look. But he didn't care. For some reason, this was as exciting for Perry as it was for Melody.

"When do we start?" Melody asked finally, sounding like a strangled parrot.

"Tomorrow after lunch," Perry replied. "Sound okay?"

Melody nodded very quickly. "That's awesome! What should I do now?"

"Well… It's getting dark. Do you have a home to go to?"

Melody shook her head. "Not in this time."

"Maybe you can sleep in one of the isolated wards, then," Perry suggested. "In the infirmary. I know Apollo won't mind. Hey, he might even be down there by now. Do you want to see?"

"Yes, please!"


	6. Chapter 6

Melody had no idea what to feel as she and Perry headed down to the infirmary. On one hand, she was about to meet an awesome doctor, and that was EXCITING. But on the other hand, Perry had really made the man sound awesome, and she wasn't sure if he was going to like her. Some people were annoyed by her enthusiasm and hyperactivity.

"Will he like me?" she asked anxiously. "He sounds really awesome and I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Awesome."

Perry blinked. "What? Of course you are, Melody. I've met hundreds of people, and only a very select few are even HALF as awesome as you."

Now it was Melody's turn to blink. "What? Really?"

"Yeah, of course." Perry grinned at her. "But even if you weren't, he'd still like you. It's not in Apollo's nature to dislike people unless they're evil, and you're definitely not evil."

"Is anybody?" Melody asked.

"Some people," Perry sighed. "Some people. Anyway, it's just through here."

Melody remembered this place from earlier. It was the infirmary, where sick and injured agents went to be treated. Just to be sure she remembered properly, she reviewed her notes quickly.

 _Apollo…I hope you like me._

Perry led her through the infirmary. There were beds on either side of the room, most unoccupied. Melody did see a few animals lying in a few beds, but none of them looked like they were too badly injured. She even got to see a snake, which she didn't have the powers of yet. She had known its name but had never seen one before now. Now she was able to add it to her roster.

At the other end of the room, there was a young blonde-haired man in a white lab coat with his back to them. As Perry's feet pattered along the floor towards him, he heard the sound and turned. "Hey, Perry. I thought I heard your little footsteps."

Perry chuckled. "I will excuse your use of the word "little" and instead skip straight to introducing you to my new friend. Apollo, this is Melody Flynn. Melody, Apollo Hastings."

To her slight embarrassment, Melody may or may not have let out a noise like an elephant. She grinned sheepishly and said, "Sorry…that happens sometimes."

Apollo snickered, but not in an unkind way. "Perry, have you brought me an elephant in disguise?"

"If I was an animal, I wouldn't be an elephant," Melody grinned. "I'd be this."

She opened her mouth and let out a perfect imitation of an eagle's screech. Apollo grinned, impressed. "I like her already."

Melody beamed at Perry, who raised an _I told you so_ eyebrow back.

After explaining who Melody was and where she came from, Perry said, "I'll be training her for the next month, and I was wondering if she could learn a little basic medicine from you."

Melody's mouth fell open. "What?!"

Apollo grinned again. "Of course. As it happens, Maya's going on maternity leave next week, so I'll need a little extra help around here. If that's okay with you, Melody."

For what must have been the third time that day, Melody's brain almost exploded. "YEESSSSS!" she screeched, sounding again like an eagle. "I'll be awesome!"

Perry and Apollo exchanged an amused look. "You'll have to do everything he tells you, though, okay?" Perry said. "There's a reason he's O.W.C.A.'s best doctor."

"Perry!" Apollo's face tinged red. "I'm O.W.C.A.'s only doctor, apart from Cynthia."

"Will I get to meet Cynthia too?!" Melody squealed.

"She'll be back from her temporary residency at D.G.H. within the next two weeks, so I guess you will," Apollo chuckled.

"YAY!" Melody screeched.

"Is she always this loud and excitable?" Apollo asked Perry in amusement.

Perry nodded. "Mm hm. Good luck with her."

As Melody stopped and stared at them, Apollo said, "I don't discourage enthusiasm, but loudness is something that will have to be toned down. People are trying to rest and recover from injuries and illnesses here, after all."

Melody nodded hurriedly and pretended to zip her mouth shut. Perry snorted. "That doesn't mean complete silence, Melody."

"Sorry," Melody whispered, ridiculously quietly.

"The volume Perry and I are talking at is perfectly fine if there's no emergency," Apollo told her. "If there's a code blue, then loudness doesn't matter."

"What's a code blue?" asked Melody, at the same volume as Apollo this time.

Apollo hesitated. "When a patient's heart stops," he replied eventually. "Their heart monitor will start beeping very quickly to alert you, and that's when you yell that you have a code blue. That draws all available medical staff to your location so that you can begin CPR and save your patient."

Melody was scribbling this down quickly in her notepad. "What's CPR?" she asked.

Apollo's eyes widened and he stared at Perry, who shrugged. "She's a twelve-year-old from 1936. Why would she have heard of CPR?"

"Then I'm afraid I must give you a basic first aid course before you can begin your training with Perry," Apollo said to Melody. "It's a requirement."

"Can you do it now?" Perry asked him. "I'd prefer to start training tomorrow."

Apollo shook his head regretfully. "It takes a few hours, and I have to go home soon."

"Can we do it tomorrow morning, then?" suggested Melody. "And do a training session after lunch?"

Perry looked at Apollo. "Well?"

"That could work," Apollo replied. "If you come up here for nine o' clock, we'll be finished by about twelve. Then you can train after lunch. Sound good?"

"I'm okay with that!" Melody beamed.

"I can do that," Perry agreed. "Actually, Apollo, I was hoping Melody could sleep in one of the wards for tonight. I haven't sorted out any accommodation for her yet."

"Oh, of course. It's very empty, as you can see. There's definitely a spare room for you."

Melody beamed. "Thank you, Mr Hastings."

Apollo seemed to flinch. "Call me Apollo. Please."

"Oh." Melody realised that she had upset Apollo, somehow. "I-I'm sorry. I will."

"I'll…just go and prepare one of the rooms." Apollo turned and left through a door to their right.

"Did I offend him?" Melody asked Perry anxiously.

The platypus shook his head. "It's just that…Apollo's father abused him and his sisters, and of course his father's name was Mr Hastings. That's why everyone here either calls him Apollo or Doctor Apollo, even the boss. We learnt that the hard way after someone called him Mr Hastings just after he arrived and he almost had a panic attack."

"Poor guy," Melody said sympathetically.

"He's been here since he was thirteen, so only a little older than you." Perry sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fine here for the night. Tomorrow, I'll sort you out with some better accommodation, okay?"

"Okay!" Melody beamed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Melody."


	7. Chapter 7

Melody sat outside on the grass, reviewing her notes on her basic first aid course. Even though Apollo had referred to it as "basic knowledge", Melody hadn't known anything he had taught her. Winding a bandage, disinfecting a cut, performing CPR, using a defibrillator. All things she now knew were vital, but that she hadn't known before. Not only was she glad that she might be able to save somebody's life one day but she was also learning a lot, and learning was her favourite thing to do.

It was coming up to the end of lunchtime. Melody could tell because all the agents who were outside eating their lunch were starting to head inside. Melody put her notebook away and headed inside after them. She consulted the map she had been given of O.W.C.A. HQ and used it to find her way to the gym.

When she got there, she saw Perry and…Perry?!

There were TWO teal platypuses standing in the gym. They looked exactly alike, except one of them was wearing a red scarf. And when Melody approached them and they turned to look at her, she saw that their eyes were different colours.

Perry glanced from the red-scarfed platypus to Melody, a grin spreading over his face. "I can explain."

"You have an identical twin?" Melody asked, grinning back.

Perry shook his head. "He's just my doppelgänger."

"What…does that mean?"

"It just means we look exactly alike," Perry explained. "It can be used to explain identical twins, but it's mostly used to describe people who aren't related but look alike."

"Ohh." Melody smiled at Perry's doppelgänger. "Hi, I'm Melody Flynn."

The platypus looked a little uncomfortable, but he managed a smile and said, "I'm Aussie."

"Are you an agent?" Melody asked.

Aussie shook his head. "No, no I'm not. I just joined today, so Perry volunteered to train me. I guess I'm just a trainee."

"There's nothing "just" about being a trainee," Perry said, patting Aussie on the shoulder. "Without trainees, we wouldn't have agents."

"That's true," Melody agreed, beaming. "So are we going to train together?"

"Yeah. I have to apologise to both of you. I had forgotten that we had a training session now, Melody, so I told Aussie that we could train now."

"Oh, that's okay!" Melody shuffled her feet excitedly. "It'll be easier to train now that there're two of us to spar against each other."

Aussie stepped back nervously. "P-Please go easy on me."

Melody felt sorry for the poor platypus. Even though he looked exactly like Perry, it was clear that he was almost the complete opposite personality-wise. Perry was confident and professional, whereas Aussie seemed to be rather nervous and jumpy. She wondered where Perry had found him.

"Don't worry, I'm as much of a beginner as you," she said, laughing.

"Please don't laugh at me," Aussie said quietly, hanging his head.

Melody frowned and glanced at Perry, who shrugged back. She mouthed, _Am I being too loud?_

Perry just shrugged again and made a face that said _maybe._

She cautiously approached Aussie and said, "Am I being too loud?"

Aussie just stared back at her, causing Perry to take pity on him and put his arm over his shoulders. "Aussie's lived in a zoo his whole life," he explained to Melody. "He hasn't had much direct contact with humans or other animals outside of the visitors to the zoo who view him and the zookeepers who feed and bathe him."

"Ohh." Melody tapped the ground with her feet. "Sorry. I tend to be a little overbearing."

"No," Aussie said unexpectedly. "No, it's me. My whole life has changed so much in the last few hours that my brain is still catching up." He attempted a grin. "Not that I was particularly confident even BEFORE I came here."

"We can work on that," Perry said. "Okay, you two, let's get started. We'll start with a warmup. Run three laps around the gym."

Melody immediately took off running. THAT she could already do. As she jogged, she started thinking. She was already beginning to miss her parents but she knew she'd see them again soon. Melody had already been here almost a whole day, but not even an hour had gone by back in her own time. She could return to the moment she left if she wanted to, but often she returned the evening of the day she left. It made her feel like she'd just spent a day out, instead of a week or however long she was away for.

After a minute or so, she passed Aussie, who was only on his first lap. Not only was he running slower than her but he seemed to have started later, so Melody ended up finishing all three of her laps before Aussie had even completed two. She waited patiently, doing starjumps, until Aussie finally finished his three laps.

"Feel warmer?" Perry inquired.

"I do!" Melody beamed. "Aussie?"

The teal platypus nodded.

"Right, let's work on some basic fighting moves" Perry said. "I want you two to face each other and do the move I show you."

Melody moved to stand opposite Aussie. This time, she could understand why the platypus was nervous; she wasn't much bigger than him but she was big enough that she could probably hold him down with not much effort. Facing someone a lot stronger than her would be scary for Melody too.

"Melody, when I say go, I want you to aim a kick at Aussie, like this." Perry kicked his leg up as if he was trying to kick someone in the groin area. "But slowly, with no force behind it. Okay?"

"Okay!"

"Aussie, when she does that, I want you to bring your arm down like this and block the blow." Perry stood sideways and made a movement downwards as if he was karate-chopping an invisible enemy. "Can you do that?"

Aussie nodded firmly, clearly feeling a little braver now. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Good. Okay; go."

Immediately, Melody forgot that she was supposed to use no force and she kicked upwards rather quickly. Aussie reacted without making a sound and chopped his paw down on her foot, pushing it down with such force that Melody lost her balance and fell on her face with a squeak.

"Melody, are you alright?" Perry asked.

Melody laughed and nodded. "Sorry, that was my fault. For some reason, as soon as you said go, I immediately forgot that I wasn't supposed to use any force. Aussie, you okay?"

Aussie nodded, seeming a little shaken but not as scared as he was at the start of the session.

"You've got good reflexes, Aussie," Perry praised his doppelganger. "Well done for the way you reacted."

Aussie looked down at the ground but he seemed pleased with the praise. Melody wondered if the platypus was capable of looking anything other than nervous. It was hard to tell his real emotions sometimes but at least he was starting to get a little more comfortable.

"Let's try that again, then, if you're both ready," Perry said eventually. "But switch roles this time. And remember, Melody: Aussie is smaller than you so no matter what you do, you have to do it with less force, otherwise you could hurt him."

Melody nodded. "Gotcha. Ready to try again, Aussie?"

The platypus looked up and nodded. "Yes. I'm ready."

...

 **If you'd like to know more about Aussie, check out my other story 'Misperceived Monotreme Part II'.**


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